Bend resident charged with uploading child porn
(Update: Adding background; he volunteered with Bend HS swim team, worked as SHARC lifeguard/swim instructor in Sunriver)
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- A tip to Bend police on Tuesday from a nationwide task force targeting crimes against children led to an arrest of a 20-year-old Bend resident on charges he uploaded more than two-dozen child pornography images over the past six months.
The information came from the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, a nationwide network of more than 60 task forces representing over 4,500 federal, state and local law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies.
Bend police detectives identified the suspect as Wyatt Anthony Carrell, who lives in the 20300 block of Sonota Way, Sgt. Robert Jones said.
Around 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, police officers and detectives made a traffic stop and contacted Carrell at Northeast Purcell Boulevard and Highway 20.
Later, around 7 p.m., they served a search warrant at Carrell’s residence and another on his car.
Carrell was arrested and booked into the Deschutes County Jail on 27 first-degree counts of encouraging child sex abuse and one count of criminal possession of a forgery device. He was held Wednesday on $100,000 bail.
Carrell was arraigned Wednesday on the initial 27-count charging document and is due back in court in a week on an expected formal indictment.
A Bend-La Pine Schools spokeswoman confirmed that Carrell volunteered with Bend High's swim program last season as a volunteer assistant coach for the boys and girls team, and passed a background check. She said he attended practices and home meets but did not travel with the teams for away meets.
Carrell also was a lifeguard and swim instructor for the SHARC facility in Sunriver, the Sunriver Owners Association said in a statement Thursday. The organization said he no longer works for them, but declined to provide the timeframe of his employment.
In the statement, it said the charges don't appear to involve activity related to his employment with SROA, but they are cooperating with law enforcement in the investigation.
